Storytelling is at the heart of all I love to do, and I’ve been telling stories for as long as I can remember.
It started out as a passion for drama during my high school years, when I joined the Bert Church High School drama program. This gave me the opportunity to perform in such plays as The Christmas Carol and While the Lights Were Out, a murder mystery. As a local thespian, it seemed a natural transition to join the Bert Church Slam Poetry Troupe, with whom I performed in Calgary-based poetry slams.
What fascinated me most about these ventures was being able to inspire other people with my storytelling. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I could make a career out of this passion.
It was, in my own small way, a way to effect change in the world. I could, if the story was especially powerful, move people to laugh, cry, think, or even question a previously ingrained way of thinking.
In later years, my love of storytelling led me to study communications at the University of Calgary and finally to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), where I studied journalism.
My time at SAIT was when I really hit my stride. I spent two years at the college, first as a student and then as an employee with the school’s alumni communications team. I met some wonderful people at SAIT who shared my love for storytelling. This newfound community of like-minded, hungry journalists fuelled me to want more.
It took me a while to figure out exactly what it was I wanted to do with my love of storytelling, but it always came down to putting my pen on paper, or my fingers on a keyboard.
My inquisitive nature and my genuine passion for my hometown of Airdrie and the surrounding region of Rocky View County, are what led me to join the Airdrie City View/Rocky View Weekly team. Having lived in Airdrie my entire life, I have a knowledge of the area and a love for the people in this community.
As a reporter, I hope to inspire some of you to laugh, cry, think, or question a way of thinking. But, even to just inform you of local news, with integrity and transparency, would be the greatest service I could imagine offering my community.
And while storytelling is at the heart of all I love to do, it is not all that I do. When I’m not behind my desk serving the local community as a reporter, you can find me out and about, thrift-shopping, going for nature walks, or even picking up a green smoothie at the local smoothie bar. COVID-permitting, I hope to see some of you on a sunny Sunday walk through the park.
